


The Last of Us Vault-Dwellers

by Venira



Category: Fallout 4, The Last of Us
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-27 17:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14430477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venira/pseuds/Venira
Summary: Characters, settings, and certain plot points are reserved to their respective creators Naughty Dog and Bethesda, but the general plot of this story and the dialogue are courtesy of yours truly. :^)Essentially this is what I think would happen if The Last of Us and Fallout 4 had a baby together! Feel free to critique me in the comments, I would absolutely love some feedback.





	1. Welcome to the Wasteland

_Freezing. Cold. Holy **fuck**. I can't feel my fingers._

Ellie tried to squirm around, but found it difficult with how tired and rigid her body felt. She willed her eyes open, frost clinging to her eyelashes as she looked beneath them, only to see her breath cloud in front of her.

_Am I still fucking in here? Holy shit I'm cold...  
...W-Wait, did I just see someone..?_

Through the fog of the glass, the lights were on. A figure had walked past, and soon after began a muffled conversation with someone else in the room, farther down at the end of the hall.  
_Either there's snow in my ears, or this pod is just way too fucking insulated. I can't hear diddly-shit._

The figure returned, and began wiping at her pod window with gloved hands to see who was inside. Holding her breath in anticipation, Ellie released it in surprise as she saw a bearded stranger peering in, his voice much clearer being that he was so much closer now.

"It's some Vault girl," he told someone else out of sight, in a gruff yet curious tone. "Can you get it open, Tess?"

"Yeah, just give me a sec," Ellie heard this Tess answer quickly. After a few moments, the cryogenic pod gave a satisfying click and hiss as the door lifted upwards, the cold it previously held in spilling out as a chilly fog, along with Ellie stumbling out chattering.

"H-h-holy shit," she sputtered, coughing, holding her arms to herself in a crude attempt to preserve any warmth. "A-anyone got a j-jacket or something?"

The man and woman exchanged odd glances at first, perhaps put off guard by her straight forwardness and profanity, but very soon afterward the man removed his insulated coat and placed it around her shoulders apprehensively, not trying to be too awkward yet seeing to her immediate need for something warm.

"We, um," he began, not sure where to start, "we weren't expecting to be lending out any coats today, is all. Hope that can do until later. Are you alright?"

"Well I don't f-fucking know," Ellie replied through gritted teeth, still trying to shake the cold while pulling the jacket on over the sleeves of her Vault suit, then wrapping it around herself tightly with fumbling hands. "I j-just got out of some fucking refrigerator I've b-been in for who-knows-how-long, after my entire town got f-fucking nuked, so you tell me.  
...How long w-was I in there for, anyways?"

This time, as the two up-landers glanced between each other again, they shared a clear look of concern.  
The man looked side to side in disbelief, before leaning forward and trying for clarification in a hushed tone. "You're tellin' me you got put in this here pod, right after that bomb went down?"

Ellie nodded, slowly at first but then assuredly. "Yep, they took us down here right after.  
I... saw it, and everything. The bomb."

The man held the bridge of his nose, trying to formulate a reply before Tess cut in for him, noticing his struggle.

"Honey, well.." she stepped more into view, a sympathetic look on her face. "You've-"  
"-been in this pod for 200 years," the man put bluntly, looking back up at Ellie.  
"Er, well, that and a decade, if we're being specific here, Joel."

Ellie froze. More so than how she was minutes before.  
...210 years?..

A long silence passed between them all, with everyone sharing the same revelation that people could actually live that long without moving, eating, or breathing. And for some with extra wasteland knowledge, to live that long without undergoing ghoulification.

"I... this..."  
Ellie didn't really know what to say at first, but found the words moments later. "This...

...is _sO FUCKING COOL!_ " she let out excitedly, her face now grinning yet still gritting from the cold a bit too.

"This is just like that issue of G-Grognak the Barbarian! Where Grognak travels into the future in 'An A-Axe for All Ages' to save Princess Delilah from the Time Lord! Holy fucking shit."

After a very brief moment of quiet, Tess ended up having to stifle a long laugh, just at how sporadic and positive the mood of the room had shifted to so quickly.

"Wow, Joel," Tess said through a smile. "We got ourselves a keeper, I think."

Joel let himself utter a small chuckle too, before saying "Yeah, well, we got ourselves _somethin'_."  
The two adults kindly began escorting Ellie back to the surface, the journey up being enemy free since they had cleared all the roaches on their way down.

* * *

"This is still all so... _weird_."

"Yeah, and I bet it'll feel that way for a while longer, too," Tess added knowingly.

After walking past a familiar doorway, Ellie's feet stopped moving.

"Do you mind if I grab something real' quick? I think I remember this room."

"...I don't see why not," Joel said, after a moment.

She hurried into the room at his approval, pulling open drawers and metal cabinets and sifting through the contents of it all before finding what she was looking for.

Her old clothes.

Not that they themselves were all too important, they were just a plaid flannel shirt and ripped jeans really, but there were some items she had left in the pockets that really meant a lot to her. Ellie checked that the items were still in their respective places before sighing in relief and removing said clothes from the cabinet, holding them as a bundle in her arms.

"I'm done," she stated, striding back out of the room and into the hallway.  
"I just forgot some things."  


* * *

After a while, Ellie took note of one of the dead Radroaches lying on the Vault floor.

"Holy shit, that's a big-ass roach."

"..Oh, that one?" Joel cut in, stopping to observe the creature closer. "That's about as small as they get, these days."

"...What do you mean?" she asked warily.

"Well, the roaches you knew," Tess began, looking all sympathetic again, "they all changed when the bomb hit. Mutated, really. They all got pretty big, and mean. In fact, I think most every creature has changed in some way, that was up on the surface."

"What about humans? Are there giants on the surface 'cause they got all mutated? That'd be so fucking cool."

Tess chuckled, before obliging Ellie with the answer.

"No hon, sorry there aren't, but... well, the humans _did_ change. _Do_ change. Sometimes.  
We call them ghouls, and mutants."

"So what are they like, then?"

"Well the ghouls," Joel started, "their faces are all mashed up, their voices are raspy, and they generally can live as long as you have so far. Some ghouls, we call 'em ferals, they're the real' violent kind. They'll try and kill you if you get too close."

Ellie's eyes widened at that, to the dismay of Tess.

"Oh Joel, don't spook the girl like that," she scolded him. He smiled teasingly, but said nothing else afterwards.  
"The other ghouls," she continued, "are nice. They can act just like we do. They can still be mean like us too, but they're generally the same 'cept for those other differences we just mentioned. The faces and long lives and things. We actually are thinkin' it might be some kind of bad fungus, that's all of a sudden making 'em go feral like they do. Affects their brains, we think. Maybe something from the bomb, too."

"What about mutants?"

"Oh, hm, well they're big green fellas. Not necessarily giants, but still huge. Green-skinned, muscly....you're a comics girl, they're basically real-life hulks. Though, well, not as _well-inclined_ , you could say."

"Whoa," Ellie answered, eyes glazed as she tried to imagine them.

"But enough on that, you can learn as we go. We even have a ghoul back at camp if you wanna meet 'im later on."

"Yeah, okay. That sounds cool," she said, genuinely intrigued.  


* * *

Ellie was already off scavenging for new things once she had been told everything around her was free now.

"Ooh, I want this," she said giddily, adding a pencil to her bundle, "and here's a pack of gum, sweet," she continued, popping a piece into her mouth. "Ah piss, it's kind of hard to chew." She spat it out dejectedly. "I didn't know gum could get fucking stale. Guess 210 years can do that to anything."

"Yeah, this stuff really isn't the greatest," Tess replied nonchalantly. "Plus us two already did some looting on the way down to where you were. Might have missed some stuff....like this," Tess said, picking up a stun baton with a satisfactory smile. "Want it?"

"Oh heck yeah." Ellie accepted it with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and began waving it through the air amusedly before catching up to them and continuing up.  
"Hey Joel, look here," Tess said, spotting some skeletons nearby. "I think that one's got somethin'." Joel decided to peer over, his look of apathy dissolving into something of incredulity.

"Damn straight it does, that's a Pip-Boy! Haven't seen one of those in a _long_ while."

"Whoa, really!?" Ellie joined in, hurrying over to see. "I always used to see those on the old television comms, I remember when they were still just prototypes."

Joel crouched down and grabbed up the Pip-Boy, the skeleton hand of the man once using it falling limply to the floor with a light clack. He then watched the device in his hands happily, like a kid getting a puppy for Christmas.

"Do you think I could, I don't know, touch it or something?" Ellie interjected. "I just, I've always wanted one and I've never seen one in person before. They're _so fucking cool_."

He gave it a moment of thought, before standing up and carefully placing it into the bundle in her arms.  
"..Go ahead," he humored.

Hurriedly she placed her bundle on the floor and took the Pip-Boy from on top of it, holding it with curiosity and excitement. Powering it on, she ran through the features with a smile tinted green from the screen light.

"Aw, look how happy she is Joel," Tess whispered sweetly off to the side, as Ellie was distracted and mumbling about the device to herself. A minute later after some thought, she suggested, "You should let her keep it."

He turned his head back to provide a look of confusion and frustration.  
"What?" he whispered back harshly. "Don't you know how how damned helpful those are out there? And how hard to come by?"

"Of course I do, but.. think about it this way. We give it to her, as some sort of 'welcome to the Wasteland' kind of gift, yeah? And we can ask her to use certain features for us, like, 'Ellie, where are we on the map right now?' That way, we all still can use it, she can have it and get some trust dealio from us just _givin'_ it to her, and she'll even get some Wasteland experience on the way, with usin' the map and stuff. Knowin' where she is."

"..W-Well, when you put it like that..."

"Huh?" Ellie asked, putting her head up at the realization that they've been talking the whole time. "Do you want it back now? I just looked through it all and-"  
"Ellie, you can keep the Pip-Boy," Joel said with a nod. "As long as you let us borrow it and use some features, now and then."

Her eyes widened in disbelief, before looking back down to the Pip-Boy in her hands and looking back up with a smile plastered on her face.  
"Holy-! W-Well uhm.. I mean...thanks. That's really nice of you," she finished sincerely.  
Ellie then felt a bit awkward. Normally when one receives a really nice present, they have the urge to show their gratitude through a physical display of affection, such as a hug. But being that she just met the two, she hoped a happy smile would suffice for now.

Carefully, Ellie pulled the device onto her left arm and adjusted it to stay there.  


* * *

The trio had finally arrived at the Vault door.  
It was sealed again, because Joel and Tess were the rightfully-paranoid wastelander types to close doors behind themselves for fear of dangerous followers. But it was also soon to be opened again, as could easily be told by Tess standing at the activation panel ready to unseal it once more.

"Ella, right?" Tess asked, hoping she got the name right and remembered. Shaking her head, the girl replied, "It's Ellie."  
"Oh, right. Sorry hon.  
Well, Ellie, are you sure you're ready to head back out there, again? 210 years is a long, long time. The world will probably be a lot different than what you're used to."  
Ellie nodded, though not without a hint of hesitation.

_I'm actually kind of fucking nervous... But I can't live with regrets either, and I can't stay in this shitty Vault any longer too. It's go time._

There was a loud groan, and lights blared as a warning of what was to come, it seemed. 

_After all, Grognak fears nothing. I-I can do the same._

She took a deep breath as the heavy door rolled noisily to the side, and the evening light of the wasteland before them fell quietly into the Vault.

"It's," Ellie began, looking side to side and taking it all in before continuing her assessment. "It's a fucking desert."

"..Yep," Joel replied, arms crossed in equal examination, as if trying to see this land he'd known for so long as if it was new.

"Welcome to the wasteland."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thank you so much for checking out my story! I know my transitions were really clunky, but I'm hoping throughout the chapters I can improve on that, and provide more smooth progression.  
> Also, please leave feedback for me! I'd love to hear it, thank you! :^)


	2. Home Sweet Home

As the three stepped out into sinking sunlight, Ellie couldn't help but notice a faint foul smell in the atmosphere. She sniffed a few times curiously.

"I'd think it might smell different after so long," Tess said, having observed Ellie's distaste. "Less cleanliness, lots of radioactivity... Makes me curious myself, wondering what smells you'd remember. You remember any sights too? Any of those houses yours?" she inquired, coming to the edge of a hill and gesturing down.

Ellie swallowed as she looked on towards the dilapidated structures. It wasn't like she knew every neighbor and she had a ton of friends and she loved to explore the streets, but... It was her home, at least for a time.

"K-kind of," Ellie replied tentatively. "I had a foster home."

"Foster?" Joel asked, perplexed. "There's a Mr. Foster back at our camp. ...Are you related?"

"No, no," Ellie answered with a light laugh. "It means, kind of like an adoptive family." She began onward down the side of the hill and through a gate, Tess and Joel following along as she continued explaining.

"Though yeah, Foster's a pretty common last name."

"Well, that's still interesting," Tess put in. "Do you want to show us your house?"

Ellie paused on the pathway, considering it for a moment. _What would I find?_ was a nervous thought she couldn't help but think.

"...Okay," she agreed, nodding after some hesitation. "It'll be over this way," she continued, leading on. Her mood was serious and determined, no swearing or cool conversation. This was all crazy, she'd have to let it settle in first.

Eventually, they found it. And just looking at the door brought it all back.

* * *

"Honey, can you check the door?" called a man through the din of a running shower. "I think I heard someone knock."

"Of course, dear," a woman called back, before taking off her apron and beginning from the kitchen towards the front door. She walked past Ellie, who was on the couch watching some silly cartoon.

Twisting the handle and carefully pulling it back, one of those pesky Vault-Tec representatives was stood in a tan suit. "Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!" he announced, taking a small step onto the welcome mat before the door.

"Ah, hello again!" replied who Ellie considered to be her "fake mom" with a smile, opening the door further upon knowing it was someone safe.

"Yes, well, we're still wondering if you're interested," he replied with a light chuckle, smiling back and wiping at his forehead with a handkerchief. "Has the mister of the house gotten word on my proposal? I believe he wasn't here last I checked in with you."

"Oh, yes, he's just in the bathroom," she explained. In some sort of speak-of-the-devil scenario, only a moment later he emerged from the hallway in a grey bathrobe, complementing the grey streaks of his black hair. 

"Ah, mister Wells! So good to meet you," said the rep, taking his hand in a firm shake of greeting. "S-so, what do you think? We don't have much last-minute space left in the Vault, it would be best to reserve in advance!" he warned.

"Sorry, doc. Mind's made," Mr. Wells, Ellie's "fake dad" answered, somewhat grimly as he nodded. "We'll be fine."

"...Fine? Well, glad we still have _some_ optimists around here," the rep replied with a nervous laugh. Obviously this man wasn't much for optimism—he just had this air of seriousness about him—but it wouldn't be in anyone's best interests to state the obvious.

"W-well, I'll just be on my way. You all have a good day now!" he offered, waving goodbye, even to Ellie as he noticed her watching the scene in curiosity, the door then closing off her view of him.

"This neighborhood needs to update their policies," Mr. Wells grumbled, heading over to the kitchen counter, bare feet padding against paneled wood, and taking a warm cup of coffee into his hands. "Isn't there something called soliciting laws?"

"Speaking of the neighborhood," Mrs. Wells began, hands resting on the other side of the counter, "there's that newborn kid our neighbor Nora had, boy named Shaun. I'm happy for her and all, but I don't think even the salesman can be as annoying as that thing's crying at night," she said, shaking her head, recalling those moments.

Ellie was barely listening in, still wanting to watch her show, and yet she remembered meeting the baby two days ago. It had been a Friday, Ellie just got back from school, and Nate and Nora, their neighbors, were just getting out of their car. She had asked if maybe she could hold Shaun, and they kindly obliged. She had told them he was "neat," but inwardly was _screaming_ about how adorable he was. Ah, babies.

* * *

The next week when the Vault-Tec representative returned, as his job compelled him to, Ellie was home alone. The Wells' said they were just "going out," like some couples thing, and Ellie could only assume that they needed some time away from her. I mean, it was weird for all of them. New kid, new parents... It would take some adjusting.

And it certainly didn't help that Ellie was a little weird herself. A girl who likes comics and jeans during a 50's-like era? Bit strange already. Pile that onto a more rural broken-home past and a tendency to swear (though she'd try to help it), and then it could _really_ seem like she's out of place. Unsettingly weird, or uncivilized to some.

Yet it's never bothered Ellie, what others thought. Instead, she lifted herself from the same couch as the last week, checked through the peep-hole, and opened the door for the man.

"Hello there!" he greeted, with a smile once again. "You must be the new young woman of the house."

"Yep, I'm Ellie," she replied casually, not really thinking a handshake necessary and instead putting her hands in her pockets. "Listen, um... Could I sign up for your Vault dealio?"

He blinked in surprise. "Oh, ahm, really?" he asked, taken back by the question. "W-well, I... Should think so!" he then added, catching himself. "As a minor, you'd certainly be applicable through our government-sanctioned program, and we'd need to sort out some insurance discrepancies seeing as you're... Adopted?"

"Foster kid."

"F-foster, right." he corrected. "Well, I can certainly see what I can do. I take it your people aren't home?"

"Yeah, they're out," Ellie confirmed, now picking at a hangnail as she stood there talking to him. "You'll probably catch them next time."

"Sure, sure," the man nodded. "Well, I'm glad at least _you_ are looking out for the future," he admitted cheerfully, smiling again. "Maybe I can snag your parents too, next time. Anyways, I'll see you around! Bye-bye now," he concluded thoughtfully.

"Bye," she copied, waving and stepping back. Ellie closed the door.

* * *

It was the same door she was watching now, in time. _What would have happened if I didn't open it, that day?_ she wondered. _What crazy, crazy shit would have happened?_

"You okay, hon?" asked a concerned Tess, worried about her pause.

"Y-yeah. I'm good," said Ellie with a nod, though a bit of a grim one, like what Mr. Wells would do.

"Let's just, um, head inside." Then she began to lead them through, only a slight pause before twisting open the creaky door handle and pushing forward.

The air was musty and dusty, as could be expected. There were large holes in the back wall of the kitchen, a gaping natural skylight, and scattered debris. The TV she used to watch on had an actual brick through it, cracks spreading around it like a spider web, and the wooden paneling of the floor was terribly scratched, with some panels completely removed. Smashed counter tiles, garbage, shattered glass... It was certainly a scene.

Warily she stepped inside, over pieces of a vase and ripped shreds of cardboard.

"Sooooo I guess people have been here?" Ellie guessed, still looking around.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Joel admitted, rubbing his bearded chin as he stepped in after her. "210 years is a long while for things to go undisturbed." Looking to the wall on his left, he grabbed a broken picture frame from one of the only shelves still holding. 

"Is that your mama, Ellie?" Tess asked, seeing the picture over Joel's shoulder as she followed in.

After taking a second more to peer around, Ellie stepped back to see what they were looking at. "Oh, yeah," she replied. Her and Mrs. Wells had been indifferent the short time that they had known each other, so after seeing what they alluded to she just returned to inspecting her old home again.

"I'll... Be right back," Ellie informed them, heading down the hallway. "Okay," Joel called back, just done putting the picture back down.

She looked side to side. Bathroom? Trashed. Laundry room? Trashed. ...Bedrooms?

First she checked her own, it was the last room on the right. A huge hole of giant dangerous splinters was in the middle of what was her door, so instead of using the knob she just kicked it down for the heck of it. It was weakened wood, and fell back in a messy tangled heap that she stepped over to get through.

Again... Trashed. She remembered having a piggy bank, but now only thick pink shards lay on the ground near where it was. Her mirror was shattered, not that she used it much. She could feel its fragments crunch underfoot, along with autumnal leaves. She was pretty sure she used to have a window, too.

Realizing there was really nothing left she could salvage, she remembered the one thing she could. Walking over beside the sunken remains of her bed, she crouched down and began to brush away more debris. A wooden panel that looked like any else was revealed underneath, but she knew it to be the right one.

Carefully, she hooked her pinky finger into a very small dip in the side of the panel, to just barely get it up so she could grab it. Then with two hands she pulled it back and set it against the wall.

Looking inside, she waved away dust motes and found it.

She was cautious removing the guitar, it looked delicate after all this time. Placing her hand around the neck to help lift it from its place, her fingers could feel the strings, still coarse yet somehow brittle.

Pulling it up and into her lap, it made a terribly tuned twang when it bumped her chipped bedpost. She cringed at the sound, and Joel's head popped into the doorway. "That a guitar?"

Ellie laughed and used a hand to push herself up from the floor. "What, this isn't 'lost technology' or anything?" she joked, passing the guitar off to him.

"Nah, never. Love playing the guitar." He put the strap over his head, and gracefully strummed down with a relaxed smile on his face and his eyes closed, head tilted back. Unfortunately, the horrid resulting sound caused him to wince out of his calm state. 

"Damn. 210 years of no tuning." Joel began to turn one of the pegs at the head, only to cause the connected string to snap and swipe at his hand. Joel gave a small start of surprise, and pulled his hurt hand into his other, feeling stung. "Ah. Sorry about that. You can have one of my strings back at camp. Want me to carry it back?" he offered.

"Sure, that'd be cool," Ellie replied. Nodding, Joel turned the strap around so he was carrying the guitar against his back, careful not to let it hit the doorframe as he exited back into the hallway. Taking one last look around, Ellie then followed him out.

...Next was the room on the left of the hallway's end. The Wells' room. She really dreaded looking inside, but knew it should be done, to sate her curiosity. If they left without her ever seeing what was inside, she knew it would just pick at her like a vulture until she'd inevitably return in the future.

She could hear Tess still scrounging around in the living room, and Joel stepped to the side so Ellie could open this next door. Taking a breath, she grabbed the handle and pushed.

But It wouldn't open. There was something blocking the other side. "Fuck," Ellie uttered, shaking the doorknob back and forth.

"Here, I can handle it," Joel said. She took a step back and he walked in front of the door. Pulling himself back, he built momentum and pushed forward, landing a quick slam with his shoulder. Whatever was blocking the other side could be heard falling over with a large clash, and the door was opened a crack more. Pushing further, he was able to shove more in the room out of the way, until enough space was made that they could both go in.

Joel, being closest, went in first. "Oh, ah... You might want to stay back," he warned.

"No, let me through," Ellie demanded, pushing against his shoulder until he budged.

And, well, she saw a room trashed less than the rest. With the windows and doors seemingly having been barricaded off. A contorted dead creature laid slumped against one wall, wearing... A dress, of some kind.

"Looks like your mom became a ghoul, Ellie. ...I'm sorry," Joel sympathized. "Guess she... Locked herself in. Couldn't come to terms with what happened, or something." He was scratching at his beard, looking down thoughtfully.

Ellie nodded thoughtlessly, eyes stuck on her corpse. _...She looks fucked up._ In her mind, she compared the present Mrs. Wells' to the likeness of an old brown banana peel.

Joel could now see Tess was in the hallway directly across from them, pondering if she should go in too. He gave her a nod, so she stepped inside.

"Why weren't your parents in the Vault with you, Ellie?" Tess couldn't help but ask.

"They didn't want to go," Ellie shrugged. "Even if they had changed their minds after I decided, they wouldn't get another chance to sign up for it. The bombs came down later that week."

"...Where's your dad?" Joel asked.

"He would've been at work, still. Don't know where he is now."

Wordlessly she walked out of the room, and brought up her Pip-Boy. "I'm done here. Where the hell are we headed?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter was okay! Again, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments!   
> Though my ideas for the next chapter are more exciting, I promise. More just wanted to get some background stuff out of the way, I guess.


End file.
